Song of the Seals

Christy is a beautiful lyrical writer. She holds your interest throughout the entire book and you think you are right in the little fishing town and know all it's inhabitants. I have also read her other novels and am looking forward to the next one.

If you like stories that out of the unusual ~~ this book is definitely for you. Yorke writes a beautiful haunting story of love and life and death ~~ longings and dreams and heartaches. Kate packs up her father and foster son to an isolated fishing village up in northern California ~~ or as she likes to say, she followed the fog. Wayne read an article in a newspaper about the fisherman's life and enraptured by the lonely life of fishing ~~ he told Kate he was moving up there. Kate agreed to take him and her father followed along.They come to the village slowly eroded by the salt water and the fog ~~ it is always cold and wet there. People are depressed and very supersititious ~~ and there was the laurel tree that oozes sap and "foretells" a fisherman's death at the sea whenever it oozes. There is the local witch/mystic. The village is not pretty nor is it peopled by friendly people. Undaunted however, Kate, Wayne and Gerald decide to stay and make a go of it. However, as they become ingrained in the village's life and with the residents, they wonder if tragedy would be worth the loss of love.This is a thought-provoking book. It tells of perils of life and love and hope after tragedy ~~ it is a book that will haunt you with its vivid descriptions of the sea and life by the sea. It will lull you into thinking life is grand then tragedy hits ~~ then you wonder how you'll survive. Kate deals with losing Wayne to adulthood ~~ and deals with the news of her son that was abducted 18 years before. She deals with how to live life again ~~ and inspires those around her to believe in love again. Even after death.This is one of my favorite books this year. It was by chance that I picked this book up ~~ and I hope to read more of her works ~~ as she is a promising writer who captures dreams and write them down for us to read. And she's a beautiful, lyrical writer. It's a definite must-read!3-30-03

I bought Song of the Seals based on its cover, and am so glad I did! It turned out to be one of the best novels I've read in a long time. I fell in love with the characters. Kate Vegas has survived one of the worst things that can happen to a woman and mother, and faces whatever comes with strength. The teenaged girls, Jenny and Nicole, were so real and interesting, they reminded me of my own daughters. Even the fishermen struck a chord in me. I couldn't stop reading until three in the morning, and was sad when I was finished. Christy Yorke is a great writer, with sentences that are so beautiful they brought tears to my eyes. I'll definitely get her others.